>> now, to the presidential campaign in ro where visits from both candidates yund score the importance this state holds on election night. there are two dueling events. president obama is at kent state university, mitt romney is in toledo. steve handelsman has news that romney got from ohio today. >> reporter: terrible news for mitt romney and his republicans. no republican has ever won the white house, none, ever, without winning the state of ohio. romney was doing pretty well there, behind by less than 1 percentage point earlier this month. but in the latest ohio poll, romney trails by ten. he's wrapping up his bus tour of ohio, a blue collar state that's must-win for mitt romney. >> there's dignity and honor and meaning in good hard work. >> reporter: but despite romney's work here, many visits, ohio may be moving out of reach.

even with the help today of ohio native jack nicklaus who says he's laid off workers from his gulf business. >> we can't afford for mour years like the last four years. i know i sure can't. >> reporter: romney can't afford more polls like today. after he was caught on tape d disparaging the 47% of americans who said feel like victims. "the new york times" cbs poll finds romney trailing president obama. by 12 points in pennsylvania, by 9 points in florida, trailing by 10 points in ohio. fighting the perception by some voters, he's out of touch. >> i've been across this country. my heart aches for the people i've seen. >> reporter: in his new ad, romney looks right at voters. >> president obama and i both care about poor and middle class families. the difference is, my policies will make things better for them. >> reporter: barack obama was in ohio, too, talking less about his record and more about

romney. >> i don't believe we can get very far with leaders who write off half the nation as a bunch of victims. >> reporter: the auto bailout helps the president here. ohio unemployment is 7.2%. better than most states. >> i need you to register to vote. i need you to start voting. six days from now on october 2nd. >> reporter: early voting, they started last friday in south dakota. and voting in the first battleground state starts tomorrow, that's iowa. so weeks before november 6th. the actual election is beginning. i'm steve handelsman, news4. iranian president ahmadinejad addressed the united nations today, but u.s. diplomats were not there to hear him. they boycotted that speech, in part because this is yom kippur the holiest day on the jewish

calendar. danielle lee has more on the address that came with a sign of protests. >> reporter: thousands of demonstrators stood outside the united nations in new york city, holding signs that read liberty and shouting out against iran. inside iran's president mahmoud ahmadinejad did not mention his nation's nuclear program, but accused the u.s. and israel of being bullies. >> translator: the threat by the zionists to resort to military action against our great nation is a clear example of this bitter reality. >> reporter: the comments prompted harsh words from israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu as he headed to the u.s. for a speech of his own. they fear iran is building a nuclear weapon, and netanyahu has threatened military force. president obama pushed for a

peaceful noregotiation. >> we had to make a statement today. the obama administration did make a statement. we're not going to listen to him anymore. >> reporter: nicholas burns called ahmadinejad's slurs more of the same rhetoric. he blamed the west for a bad economy. accused the candidates of ignore the 99%. >> translator: we believe those who spend hundreds of millions of dollars on election campaigns have the interest of the people of the world at their hearts. >> reporter: words that are sure to fuel tensions as talks continue inside the u.n. in washington, danielle lee, nbc news. meanwhile, the iranian leader's airplane has been in our area all week. iran air 747 has been parked at joint base air drus during ahmadinejad's stay in new york.

vip planes are limited to a two-hour drop-off in new york. so it is not unusual for heads of state to leave their planes at andrews, or the military bases especially when the u.n. meetings are under way. a vigil for a family of four found dead in their herndon, virginia, home will begin in just over an hour. late this afternoon police identified the family. they believe 52-year-old albert peterson shot and killed his wife, kathy, and their two sons, matthew and christopher. they were all discovered at the home on point rider lane yesterday. the family was found after the parents didn't show up to work for two days. the tragedy has made it difficult for a lot of local families. jackie bensen will have a report with more on how parents can deal with that coming up in our next half hour. a maryland family could be homeless tonight after this car came crashing through the side of their house. this is on olney mill road. the car plowed through the garage, landing in the dining

room. the driver was 70 years old and was taken to the hospital, but is expected to be fine. police say he didn't live at the home but the husband and wife who did live there were there at the time but they were not injured. building inspectors are examining the house to see if it is safe enough to be inhabited. in just about two months, repairs on the washington monument will officially get under way. the national park service awarded the contract to massachusetts based perini management services. they'll seal the cracks, strengthen the weak spots that were left by last year's 5.8 earthquake. ge getting to those cracks could take massive amounts of scaffolding and take up to months. >> the heaviest damage appeared to be at the ribbed portion of the monument between 475 and 530 feet. which is the most difficult area to get to. >> i came here over the summer with relatives and wanted to

take them up. it was a little unfortunate that they couldn't go up and see the views and see the sights. >> repairs are expected to cost $15 million. it took 23 years to get to this day, but southeast washington neighbors are excited about a new development coming to their community. demolition started today on the old sky land shopping center. that's at the intersection of nailer and good hope roads. the project has been at the center of legal fights for two decades. but this is an important step forward. tom sherwood shows us the big plans for the vacant space. >> reporter: with a few ceremonial whacks, hopeful citizens looking on. city leaders welcomed the end of 23 years of fighting over the rundown skyland shopping nr off alabama avenue in southeast. that will become a new mix of housing and retail including plans for a new walmart for the mix of low, moderate and high

income neighborhoods nearby. >> 40 years ago this neighborhood had the same sense of community that it has today. but it was a lot more diverse. and we had services. >> reporter: longtime civic leader paul savage has lobbied more than 20 years and three different mayors for the changes that also could benefit suburban prince george's county. >> historically most of those people, african-americans in particular, formally live in washington and still have that connection. >> reporter: anthony williams in the early 2000s used imminent domain to acquire the property. and the city through the current mayor vincent gray has fought off six lawsuits over ownership, with only one more minor one remaining. >> if there were folks who gave up, it's perfectly understandable. >> skyland is a reality. we are really on the move in ward 7. >> you'll be happy to know i will not be working on this

construction project. >> reporter: mayor grade said the city will monitor construction to see that it stays on schedule. >> this is the actualization, bringing to fruition promises that we made. >> reporter: in southeast washington, along alabama avenue, tom sherwood, news4. along with the retail stores, the project is also supposed to include 500 new homes. we had a lovely warm, kind of a summery day there today. but we've got some changes in store for us. let's check in with doug. >> temperatures looking at 83 degrees. plenty of sunshine a little earlier. winds out of the southwest at 13 miles an hour. definitely felt more like summer than just a couple of days ago when it was feeling like fall. 82 in culpepper. 77 in martinsburg. in through the panhandle of west virginia, seeing some of those showers, and hagerstown area. there are more on the way. i'll show you who i think has the best chance of seeing those showers coming up in the full

forecast in just a minute. coming up, a very targeted attack in syria, now we know who the suicide bombers wanted dead. a massive marijuana plantation is busted, and it's thanks to new spying eyes in the sky. a project to help clear up traffic in virginia, also involves clearing out trees. and we may be used to seeing motor kads around here, but we

two powerful explosions went off in damascus, syria today, caused by two suicide car bombers trying to hit the government's military command center. syrian tv broadcast this video of the blast. but nbc news cannot confirm the authenticity. in a separate development, iran's english language state news service said one of its reporters was killed while covering the bombings today. the news agency press tv reported that reporter maya nasr was shot by a sniper. the news director blamed turkey,

saudi arabia and qatar, accusing them of supplying weapons to rebel fighters in syria. violence broke out in greece today. thousands of protesters converged on athens. some of them firebombed the capital during a nationwide anti-austerity strike. julia chatterly has more on the demonstration that started out peacefully. >> reporter: just a few hours after the violence flared here in athens, things are relatively back to normal. the traffic is flowing freely. litter on the streets now. and the police presence has certainly dropped right back. it began as a very peaceful protest. tens of thousands of people here to protest against the government's austerity measures. but it changed very quickly with the arrival of black dressed protesters carrying gas masks. they also had petrol bombs and engaged the riot police who let off canisters of tear gas.

for now, at least, it looks like things have settled right back down. the key thing to remember is, though, this was scheduled to coincide with a voten parliament regarding the latest austerity cuts. that didn't happen today, that's yet to come. the risk is we see the violence today happening again in the next two weeks when parliament finally gets to vote on these measures. for now, though, it is relatively peaceful here. greece, though, very aware of what's going on in spain. two countries where the people here are saying enough to austerity and enough to cuts. for now, though, back to you. flying drones helped uncover a large marijuana plantation in northeastern italy. the drones were recently used to monitor the stability of buildings after recent earthquakes there. they seized 182 plants during that unexpected and surprise raid. surprise for the drones. doug's here with more about our weather. a nice surprise to have good

weather. you said it might be nice. >> mm-hmm. and it was nice. >> a little warm. >> it was warm. we went from -- >> sitting in the sun, it was like, yikes, it's a tad warm. >> you won't hear us complaining about it. >> what do you think the high today was? >> 83. >> all right. we've got one. >> he was going to say that whether he was just -- >> yeah, i made that up. it was actually 79 or something like that. we're just going to go with 83, because that's what we forecast yesterday. and the chance of showers through the north and west. and we have seen a few of those. most of us have remained on the dry side. that will be the case through the next couple of hours. look at that, very nice shot. as we look out to the west, the sun going down in about the next 45 minutes or so. the sunset tonight at 6:58. ladies, what do you think about this? in about a month, daylight savings time -- >> we don't want to even think about that. don't even say it. get on over there. >> i looked up the information. i have it in my head. >> why don't you tweet that out.

>> you know what, it was 84 today. i was one degree off. so there you go. 65 is your low. average high temperature 76 degrees. so well above the average high. there is the sunset time tonight at 6:58. now, as far as our numbers go across the region, we're 8 # right now, with winds out of the southwest at 13 miles an hour. it has been a little breezy, but that's not bad. very summer-like across the region today. temperatures to the south have been warmer. we saw 85 and 86 around fredericksburg earlier. to the north where we've seen some showers, a little cooler, 74 in kagerstown, 77 in martinsburg. as we widen out, you notice where the rain really is. and then well to our north and west. pennsylvania, back to ohio, back down through st. louis, these are numerous different storms riding along the same front. we have one little impulse here, another one here, another impulse here. this is the one that we're watching. and then a big impulse back to the st. louis area.

a lot of rain here. we're going to focus in on this guy right here. this is what i'm talking about, a little bit of an upper-level of low pressure. a short wave that runs just off to the north and west. notice the thunderstorms. there is lightning with these. the direction, right across the same areas that have already seen some rain. if you live in the panhandle of west virginia, northern portions of virginia, frederick county, loudoun county, and maryland, you have a better chance of seeing showers and a few more thunderstorms. some of those could be strong over the next few hours as they make their way over the mountains. most of us, especially from the d.c. metro area, south tonight, should stay on the dry side. high temperatures today, very warm to the south. 84 in richmond. 83, now we know it was 84 in the d.c. area. to the north, only in the 60s above that cold front. that front is going to meander across our region over the next few days. still to the north tomorrow, we're going to stay on the warm side. we'll also keep that chance of showers in. here's the front. once again, just a few scattered

showers during the day tomorrow. not a washout by any means. here comes a more organized area of low pressure. that will drive the front to the south. that will allow for more shower activity and a better chance for thunderstorms on friday. friday looks like the day we will see the best chance for some rain across our region. but we could see some showers over the next 24 hours, too. partly cloudy. winds out of the southwest about 10 to 15 miles per hour. temperatures 70 to 75 degrees. tomorrow morning, once again, a shower possible, but the best chance will still be to the north and west. as that frontal boundary remains to the north and west. temperatures 57 to 65 degrees. as we move through the next few days, 77 on friday with a good chance of rain. 74 on saturday. and another chance of showers on sunday, but not a washout. and back into the lower 70s. i went on facebook and asked the question, what do you prefer 83 and summer-like today or 70 and fall-like on monday. about 95% said they liked the

fall better. >> i think people are ready. after that summer. >> okay. thank you, doug. coming up, driving directions taking a new turn. google's street view is taking a dive. prince george's county's top cop is talking for the first time about the mysterious murders of two high school students. we have a news4 exclusive for you. they could be close to solving this. coming up in sports, the redskire redskins add a super bowl champion to their backfield. and nfl refs getting closer to being back on the field. the braves soak up the champagne in

the news came in late this afternoon, police in northern

virginia rulinging the deaths of four family members a murder/suicide. >> jackie bensen is at the family's herndon neighborhood as family and friends prepare for a vigil later tonight. >> reporter: doreen, this entire community is in shock. filled with a sense of sadness and loss. for more than 24 hours, as police kept going in and out of the house on point rider lane in herndon, neighbors wanted anxiously to hear news of how the four people in the home died. police now believe 57-year-old albert peterson shot his wife, kathy, his sons matthew, 15, and christopher, 13, before turning the gun on himself. some neighbors placed flowers near the home. >> i didn't believe it. i was like, are you kidding? and they're like, no, up there at the petersons' house. i said, it's not the petersons', right? they said, no, it's the

petersons'. i'm like, really? they were the nicest people. >> reporter: the family had lived in the house for 28 years. they were the original homeowners. >> these guys are nice people. you know, they were always sitting out there, always waving to everybody, always having a good time, grilling. i didn't really talk to them much, but every time i walked up there, they were saying, how are you doing, how is your day going. >> reporter: at westfield high school this morning, students gathered to try to come to grips with the terrible loss of a classmate and friend. dr. kathleen chairs the department of social work at george mason university. she knows parents in the community are struggling with how to help their children deal with this. >> you need to as a parent be aware that it may come up at some time later, or unexpected context, because they may make connections that you might not. >> reporter: a candlelight vigil for the peterson family will be held at the floris united methodist church in herndon. >> i think a lot of people are

feeling disconnected by a tragedy of this magnitude. so it's a chance for us to pull together. >> reporter: the vigil begins at 7:30 at the floris united methodist church on frying pan road. jackie bensen, news4. right now, president obama and mitt romney are stumping for votes in the battleground state of ohio. president obama spoke at two college campuses today. mitt romney spoke to supporters in toledo. romney has an uphill climb in ohio. a cbs "new york times" poll shows he's ten points behind the president in that state. with less than two months to go before election day. virginia's attorney general has certified new regulations for abortion clinics after a state health care officials revised and toughened their guidelines. earlier this year the state health board backed rules that exempted existing clinics from strict building standards. but after a warning, the board back tracked and applied the

stricter standards to all facilities. the former chairman has a new court date on his calendar but no one's saying what it's about. kwame brown pleaded guilty to bank fraud and finance violation. his plea agreement requires him to provide authorities with certain financial and travel information. the new hearing is scheduled for october 9th. brown will be sentenced in november. he faces up to six months prison time on each offense. police say they are getting closer to solving two teen murders in prince george's county. amber stanley, killed in her kettering home last month, marckel ross shot going to school. they're answering questions about the search for the killers. prince george's county bureau chief, tractracee wilkins is lin capitol heights with new developments. tracee? >> reporter: this is the first time that we're hearing from the

chief. and he is saying a lot about what's happening in these cases. and sharing new developments as well. now, parents and community leaders are coming here to central high school at 7:00 p.m. for a community meeting. they hope to hear more about what's going on in this investigation of marckel ross' murder. just down the street in kettering, about 30 minutes ago, a community walk got under way there where folks are paying their close attention to what's happening with the amber stanley case and trying to keep the focus there. but right now, prince george's is experiencing a record low in crime here. everyone in this community is on edge because of the murders of these two teens. in my exclusive interview with police chief, mark mclaw. he said he's positive both of these cases will be closed. he said he realizes how uncomfortable this past month has been for prince george's parents and the entire community. >> when you don't have a

closure, there's always a question. when that question lingers, it breeds fear. we're not quite sure what happened. we have a good working understanding. we think we know what happened. but we don't have enough information to go out and say this is exactly what happened. the longer that goes, the harder it is on everyone. >> reporter: we'll have more information with that exclusive interview of chief mcgraw coming up in my report at 11:00 p.m. tonight. he does share new information, new details concerning these two unsolved murders. reporting live from central high school, tracee wilkins, news4. new help for residents looking to buy a home in d.c. or prince george's county. qualifying buyers can get up to $20,000 for a down payment on a home. there's an education element to teach people how to avoid foreclosure. the effort is sponsored in p